ABSTRACT
Since Ismet Inonu’s Republican People’s Party had a majority in the House of Representatives of the Constituent Assembly it is not surprising that the most important points in its programme were incorporated into the constitution. The constitution is largely based on foreign models; the paragraphs concerning the President of the Republic are patterned on the Italian constitution, whereas those on safeguarding the constitution correspond more or less to the Basic Law of the German Federal Republic. The constitution contains many important innovations. The new constitution contains a catalogue of rights in the style of liberal democratic fundamental laws since the French Revolution, supplemented by principles of the United Nations. The introduction of a constitutional court composed of fifteen members and five deputy members is new for Turkey.
